This invention relates to an information managing apparatus for integrated management of information or data used in performing work in a factory or office.
Computers are utilized to construct a factory or office automation system for integrated management of information and work. Normally, programs and data cannot be used mutually between different types of computer. It is now assumed that an original program is prepared to operate one type of computer used for automatic management of work in a factory A. The original program can be utilized for the automatic management in another factory B if the computer used for automatic management in the factory B is of the same type as the computer used in the factory A. Otherwise, the original program cannot be utilized without coordination of the original program with the computer used in the factory B. However, this coordination requires substantially the same amount of labor as required in preparing another program for the computer used in the factory B. If additional work is required in the factory B, some program segments should be incorporated into the coordinated program. Even when this incorporation is made with a small modification of the coordinated program, a considerable amount of labor is required to debug and the test the program. For these reasons, it is desirable to provide a multi vendor environment where the user can construct the factory or office automation system regardless of the operation system used in his/her computer.